This is a list of 37 graphic design industry statistics, facts and trends.
In fact, these statistics showcase the growing need for graphic designers. Especially in digital marketing and website design field.
So if you’re looking for some interesting and eye-catching information, you’ll really enjoy this list.
Table of Contents
Graphic Design Industry Statistics
1. In 2023, the global graphic design market size is $45 billion. Graphic designers market size in the U.S. alone is worth $14.5 billion. On average, the market size of this industry has been growing by 2.5% each year from 2015 to 2020, according to IBISWorld.
2. It‘s also important to mention that the Graphic Design industry in the US had a faster increase than the overall economy.
3. But, during 2020, graphic designers in the U.S. market size has shrunk by -10.6%. The pandemic hit the world’s economy hard that year. As we can see now, it didn’t take long for it to recover.
4. It is projected a 3% growth in the graphic design industry each year with 11,000 new jobs added by 2028 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). Graphic designer job is going to be important in the marketing field for at least the next ten years.
5. Graphic design categories such as book design, newspapers and illustration are crowded job markets. Industry experts predict a decline of 22% in the next decade in these fields.
6. On the other hand, modern design categories such as computer software design, animated infographics, video editing and online advertising are expected to grow up to 24% by 2028.
Graphic Design in Business
7. 94% of first impressions are related to website design.
8. In 2020, there were 400,258 businesses that are related to working with graphic design.
9. According to Adobe Blog, design-led companies that stimulate creativity obtain 1.5x greater market share.
10. Also, Adobe’s findings say that 59% of global users prefer the appealing design, while the other 41% of users like simple and plain design.
11. As reported by Design Management Institute (DMI), design-driven companies have outperformed the S&P Index by 228% between 2004 and 2014.
12. 67% of small businesses are willing to pay $500 for a logo.
13. Graphic designers hold about 290,100 jobs in the USA.
14. When speaking about starting your own business, graphic designers are naturally enterprising. Currently, 25.3% of the employment base is registered as self-employed.
15. Top 5 industries that are hiring graphic designers are:
- Manufacturing
- Publishing
- Advertising
- Computer systems design
- Design services
Career and Wages
16. The average wage of a graphic designer is $55,731.
17. Freelance graphic designers are expected to earn from $15 to $150 per hour.
18. The average age for a graphic designer is 40.5. The median age for males is 41.3. The median age for females is 39.8.
19. 53.4% of graphic designers are female, which makes them more common gender in the field.
20. Interestingly, Office for National Statistics reported that women in this field earn 6% less than men. The possible reasons for this phenomenon are that women could be under-representation in senior roles, work in lower-paid sectors or are more likely to work part-time. They usually have to take time to look after their family more than men.
21. According to NEA research Graphic designers work at home at more than three times the rate of the total labor forcepeople.
22. In 2018, the lowest 10 percent of graphic designers earned less than $29,610 while the highest 10 percent of graphic designers earned more than $85,760. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018)
23. The highest salaries are in advertising, public relations or related services. The lowest salaries are in printing and related support activities.
24. The most important competencies in the graphic design field are analytical skills, artistic ability, communication skills, computer skills, creativity and time-management. It means that being a graphic designer is not only having a blast of creativity. It’s having an analytical point of view to briefly convey the message through visual content along with knowing how to communicate and keep in touch with the clients all the time.
Visual Content in Marketing
25. A 2016 Content Marketing Institute study showcased that 51% of B2B marketers mark creating visual content as a priority.
26. Another, 2018 Content Marketing Institute study showed that 72% of B2B content marketers use videos for content marketing purposes, 65% use infographics and 56% love using illustrations and photos.
27. After analyzing 100 million articles, OkDork discovered that having at least one image in your post increases Facebook and Twitter shares.
28. 57% of consumers state that their favorite color is blue. Most shoppers associate this color with reliability.
29. A research by iScribblers showed that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, and it takes twice as long to process and recognize words.
30. 49% of marketers agreed that visual content plays a very important role in their marketing strategy.
31. 43% of digital marketers acknowledged that producing engaging graphic content consistently was their biggest struggle.
32. There was a 10.5% increase in visual content between 2018 and 2019.
33. 33.6% of marketers are using stock photos as the most frequent visual content type. (Venggage)
While we are talking about content marketing, we shouldn’t forget that having a website is crucial to almost every business. Events related to the pandemic situation have caused e-commerce to prosper. Let’s take a look at the most important web design stats.
Website Design Statistics
34. According to Web FX, each dollar invested in UX brings back $100 in return – having an ROI of 9,900%. Still thinking of user experience as nonsense?
35. A pleasant design delivers 75% of website credibility. Also, it’s worth mentioning that almost half of all users agree that website design is the most important aspect that builds the credibility of the business.
36. 73% of companies invest in design to make their brand more recognizable than their competitors.
37. 30% of web designers said that they update their clients’ websites each month, and 21% said they typically update them quarterly.
38. If a user was given 15 minutes to take a look at the content, he would prefer reading something satisfyingly designed than something plain.
Main Takeaways
These are the main graphic design industry statistics and facts for this day.
The main point is clear:
Graphic design industry is changing. And it’s thriving.
The need for visual content in the digital marketing field is growing the most. Marketers use the help of graphic designers’ when posting on social media, creating blog content or when creating advertisements. They understand that it’s the only way to satisfy every user’s eye.
With over $45 billion market size in the Global Graphic Design industry, we understand that it‘s going strong.
We can expect a whole new slew of studies to help us analyze and understand this huge and continuously evolving market.
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